How GS1 Global Standards are Developed

GS1 Canada develops global supply chain standards in partnership with the industry experts and business teams who actually use them through the Global Standards Management Process (GSMP) - a community-based forum for businesses facing similar problems to work.

A neutral participant, GS1 Canada represents Canadian business requirement submissions to the GSMP and supports the global GS1 organization to facilitate dialogue and the development of standards-based solutions among business and technical people from over one hundred countries across many sectors.

The GSMP best-in-class process operates under guiding principles:

Openness & Transparency

  • The standards development process is open to all organisations to join

User Driven Standards

  • GS1 standards are created in response to business needs clearly articulated by participating organisations. Equally important, they are developed only where there is the expressed will (by stakeholders) to implement the resulting standards

Stakeholder Participation

  • Participation in GSMP is open to all GS1 system users and all stakeholders impacted by a defined business issue

Standards Protection

  • Standards developed through the GSMP are maintained by GS1 on behalf of all GS1 stakeholders

The GSMP uses a four-step consensus driven approach when developing new global standards.


4-step consensus-driven process

A four-step process is used to develop new global standards, as follows: 1. Steering: Identify the business challenges of a request to develop a new global standard and determining its relevance to arrive to a Go/No Go decision.
2. Requirements: What are the requirements of the development work. 3. Standards: What are the standards required for the development work. 4. Collateral: What collateral is needed. The development work is completed by the GSMP Working Group.

To find out to engage GS1 Canada to represent your voice at the global level, visit the Our Governance webpage.

Collaboration with Other Standards Bodies

In addition to representing Canada’s voice within the GSMP, GS1 Canada promotes Canadian business requirements among global standards-setting bodies.

We ensure that Canadian businesses of all sizes and in virtually all sectors can enjoy supply-chain efficiency gains and improved global competitiveness. GS1 Canada works with these other standards-setting leaders to bring Canada to the forefront of collaborative commerce.

Other global standards setting bodies we collaborate with include:

To find out more about existing global standards, visit the Global Standards page, call us at 1.800.567.7084 or email us at info@gs1ca.org.